206 Notices — South America 



Agave Americana Maguey, M'ex. This plant is extensively cultivated 

 in Mexico, for the sake of its sap, from which the Mexicans distil their 

 favourite spirit pulque. " The plants are set about five or six feet asunder, 

 and, in favourable situations, come into bloom in about ten years, at which 

 period the valuable liquor they produce is to be procured. As soon as 

 the cultivator perceives the plant preparing to throw up its long flower 

 stem, he cuts out the leaves which form its centre, and hollows it out in 

 the shape of a bowl, at the same time removing most of the other 

 leaves, so that the whole sap destined for their supply flows to the great 

 stem, and is received by the bowl-shaped cavity, into which it runs with 

 such rapidity as to require to be emptied several times a day, for a space 

 of two months. The liquor, when collected, is placed in jars or skins ; 

 it undergoes a slight fermentation, which takes place in a few days, and 

 it is then fit for immediate drinking. Strangers prefer it when fresh, but 

 the natives seldom use it till it has acquired a strong taste, and a dis- 

 agreeable fetid smell, denominated fuerte, when it is esteemed in high 

 perfection. A strong spirit, called pulque brandy, is distilled from this 

 liquor. This is also called vino mercal ; and resembles Scotch whiskey in 

 colour and flavour; but it has a little more flavour of alcohol. The leaves 

 of the plant form the roofs of some of the Indian houses, the stalks 

 their props and rafters, and both their fences ; ropes, thread, cloth, and 

 paper are made from it ; some part of the plant is used medicinally, and 

 the root, prepared with sugar, is converted into sweetmeats. — {Bullock's 

 Mexico, p. 20, 21, 22.) Mr. Stevenson adds, that the Indians use the 

 prickles as a substitute for needles; the leaves as a substitute for soap, and 

 that the flower buds are eaten boiled or pickled. — {Travels, vol. ii. p. 9). 



The plant attains a great size ; some of the leaves measured ten feet 

 long, fifteen inches wide, and eight thick ; their flower-stalks were twenty 

 feet high, and their arms, expanding like rich candelabras, clustered with 

 yellow flowers, (ib. 70.) It is worthy of remark, that the flower-stem of 

 the aloe, which we have noticed (Gai'd. Mag. No. 1. p. 89.) as having 

 flowered last summer at the Duke of Devonshire's, was upwards of twenty- 

 four feet in height. 



Emigration. A few intelligent gardeners from the north of our island 

 would soon acquire fortunes in the neighbourhood of Mexico, and be the 

 means of increasing the blessings already enjoyed by the people in those 

 delightful regions. In such a country and climate the finest productions 

 of every part of the globe might be produced, but the whole is left to 

 the care of untutored Indians, whose horticultural knowledge is indeed 

 very limited. — (Bull. Mex. vol. i. p. 192.) 



SOUTH AMERICA. 



Chilian Floiver Garden. When Captain Hall was at Santiago, he visited 

 a lady in the evening, who expressed great regret, owing to its being dark, 

 that she could not show him her garden, which, she said, was "the pride 

 of her life." In a few days afterwards he paid her a visit in the day time, 

 when the good lady was delighted, and led the way with great glee to 

 her favourite spot " It certainly," Captain Hall observes, " was a bril- 

 liant spectacle ; for in these climates where nature does so much, the least 

 assistance multiplies the effect in a manner of which, in cold regions, we 

 have no conception. But our good dame, who thought of nothing less than 

 letting nature have her course, had planted her flowers, and cut her walks 

 and borders into the form of beasts, birds, and fishes ; not only had she 

 displayed the figures of the animals in a sort of relief, by raising and de- 

 pressing the soil, but she had attended minutely to the appropriate colours 

 of each, by the careful distribution of the proper flowers ; and, to do her 

 justice, the spot looked more like a menagerie than a garden!" — (Capl. 

 "Hall's Chili. Peru, Sfc. vol. i. p. 175.) 



